Everyone wants a taste of the craft beer market, and this has led to an onslaught of acquisitions. American craft brands such as Goose Island, Lagunitas, Blue Point, Saint Archer and many others have sold (out?) to the world's leading brewers, all of which happen to be based outside the U.S. (This article lays out the issues.)
But Boston Beer Co., the $2 billion owner of Sam Adams and largest independent craft brewer, has been a holdout in the M&A game. Jim Koch, the company's founder, chairman and controlling shareholder -- and perhaps the industry's most recognizable corporate figure -- has long been opposed to selling to a foreign giant, such as Anheuser-Busch InBev. He testifiedBloomberg Terminal before a Senate committee last July about how the country's high corporate tax rate is driving U.S. businesses to enter into such deals and predicted dolefully that he'd be the last American owner of Boston Beer:
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